Tag Archives: Green

The Yanks have a problem. Should they play in the wild card game, what pitcher starts?

Before last night’s game, CC Sabathia was placed on the DL, and once and now again Yankee George Kontos was brought up from the minors for the time being (until a starter, Chance Adams? is needed to fill CC’s spot). Also, Luke Voit was sent down and Ronald Torreyes brought back up.

So there is the issue with CC.

And now the issue with Luis Severino. Severino gave up a HR to the first batter of the game, and gave up another run before getting out of the first inning. 2-0 Mets before the Yanks came to bat.

Severino is still leading the majors in wins (15) but since July 1 is 2-4 with a 7.31 ERA. He is not trending as you would like heading down the stretch.

Whether it is tipping pitches or a mechanical issue, he has to be straightened out.

The Yanks tied the game in the third when Romine singled and Gardner walked. Stanton hit into a force play but and error on the play enabled Romine to score and Stanton to reach second. Hicks singled to tie the game.

But Severino gave up a two-run HR to an old Yankees’ nemesis, Jose Bautista, in the top of the fourth that put the Mets up 4-2.

The Yanks cut it to 4-3 in the fifth when Gardner doubled and Didi singled him home.

A.J. Cole was awful. He gave up a HR to ex-Yankee Todd Frazier in the sixth, and back-to-back HRs to Brandon Nimmo and Michael Conforto in the seventh. 7-3 Mets.

Miguel Andujar hit a two-run HR (18) in the bottom of the eighth for the Yanks to cut it to 7-5, but Zach Britton’s struggles continued (aided by a Gleyber Torres’ error) as the Mets got an insurance run in the top of the ninth, 8-5 Mets, the final score.

The Yanks have to get CC healthy, and get Severino and Britton on track. They also need Judge and Sanchez to get healthy, and Gleyber Torres (down to .261) to get out of his slump.

Otherwise, if they make the postseason, it could not be for long.

Meanwhile, they fall to 74-44, and 10 back of Boston. They are 3 1/2 up on Oakland for the top wild card seed.

Masahiro Tanaka’s troubles in giving up the gopher ball continued, as he gave up 3 HR.

In the fourth, Beltre hit a 2-run HR (#469 of his career, passing Chipper Jones on the all-time list). Beltre, an all-time great, also is up to 3134 hits in his career. Later that inning, Guzman hit the first of his three HR for the night, and Texas was up 3-0.

Texas got two in the fifth to take a 5-0 lead.

Brett Gardner got the Yanks on the board in the bottom of the fifth with his 10th HR of the season.

Guzman led off the sixth with his second HR of the game to make it 6-1 Texas. A.J. Cole relieved Tanaka then, and three more runs scored that inning to make it 9-1.

The Yanks came back with three in the bottom of the sixth. With one out, Stanton walked. With two out, Gregorius singled. Andujar hit a ground-rule double to knock in one run, and Luke Voit singled in two.

Guzman hit his third HR of the game in the top of the seventh to make it 10-4.

In the bottom of the seventh, Austin Romine hit his 7th HR of the season to cut it to 10-5.

Texas got two in the eighth, 12-5.

In the bottom of the eighth, Didi and Andujar singled, and both moved up on a wild pitch. Romine drove in both with a single. 12-7, the final score.

An area of concern. Gleyber Torres went 0 for 5, and is hitting just .227 since June 9. His average has dropped from .308 to .269 since then.

Luis Severino, shaky in his last few outings, started off shaky again, giving up two runs in the first inning before settling in for his career high 15th win of the season.

Gleyber Torres walked to lead off the second. After Andujar struck out, Neil Walker singled. Austin Romine singled in Torres. Shane Robinson singled in Walker to tie the game at two. Brett Gardner was hit by a pitch. Stanton’s 27th HR, an opposite field grand slam that just curled around the foul pole, made it 6-2 Yanks.

In the fifth, Aaron Hicks hit his 19th HR of the season to make it 7-2.

Severino gave up a HR in the bottom of the fifth to cut it to 7-3 but that was the end of the scoring.

The Yanks stay 9 back of Boston. They are 4 up on Oakland for that top wild card spot.

Clint Frazier not happy at some comments Michael Kay made about Frazier’s stint on the DL re: concussion issues.

Ex-MLB player (and a former Yankee) Esteban Loaiza will get years in jail for running a drug ring. From the NY Post (edited):

Former Yankees pitcher Esteban Loaiza is expected to change his plea later this week in a felony cocaine distribution case, according to a report.

Loaiza — who was arrested in February in San Diego after authorities said they found 44 pounds of cocaine in a van parked in the garage of a rented townhouse — has a “change of plea” hearing listed in Southern California US District Court on Friday, WLS-TV reports.

The Tijuana-born Loaiza, 46, initially pleaded not guilty in February. A change of plea hearing results in a defendant submitting a guilty plea in “99 percent” of all criminal cases, according to the station’s legal analyst Gil Soffer, a former federal prosecutor.

…..

Federal investigators have said they believe Loaiza used the rented townhome as an intermediate destination for cocaine. Prior to his arrest, during which Loaiza was pulled over for a traffic violation and cops found a sophisticated compartment to hide contraband in his Mercedes-Benz, the former MLB star had crossed the Mexican border earlier that day, prosecutors said.

Authorities later obtained a search warrant for Loaiza’s rented home in Imperial Beach, where investigators said they found 44 pounds of cocaine stored less than 1,000 feet from an elementary school.

Loaiza, who posted bail in May, faces a mandatory 10-year minimum sentence and up to life in prison if convicted, according to the station.

Loaiza pitched for nine teams throughout his 14-season career, including the Yankees, Dodgers, White Sox and Pirates. He retired in 2008 with a 126-114 record and a 4.65 career ERA. He was a two-time All-Star and the second-winningest Mexican pitcher in MLB history, second only to Fernando Valenzuela. In 2003, he finished second in the American League Cy Young voting and started the All-Star Game.

The Yanks have 53 games left, but it would now take a 1978-type miracle to win the division after a 4-1 loss Saturday pushed the 68-35 Yanks 8 1/2 games behind Boston in the AL East.

Meanwhile, even the top wild-card spot is in peril because the hot Oakland A’s won again.

Chance Adams, making his MLB debut, didn’t do too badly considering the circumstances. He gave up 2 HR but in pitching 5 innings, gave up just 3 runs, keeping the Yanks in the game.

But until the ninth inning, the offense, just like on Friday night, was non-existent, and for the second straight day, the Yanks fell to Boston by a 4-1 score.

Adams gave up a 2-run HR in the first and a solo shot in the fourth. Boston got a run in the seventh off of A.J. Cole when a video review overturned a foul ball into a double.

In the ninth, the Yanks scored their only run when with two out, Stanton and Didi both doubled. They actually got the go-ahead run to the plate, when Hicks and Torres both walked. Bases loaded. Bird flied to center, though, to end the game.

Stanton had 2 of the Yanks’ 5 hits. Going into the ninth, they had just 3 hits, and no runs.

Tommy Kahnle, up for a day, was sent back so that Adams could come up and make the start.

After the game against Boston Sunday night, the Yanks’ schedule is relatively weak until Labor Day. They need to right the ship, and shave four or five games off of that lead between now and Labor Day.

The four game losing streak is the longest the Yanks have had all season.

As for the offseason, I don’t know if, after getting under the cap, Hal Steinbrenner will now go over it again, but there are a couple of moves I would do. These moves may not be popular among Yankees fans, because they would mean some options of aging Yankees players would not be picked up, in order to target two players via free agency.